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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Duck Breasts w/ Ginger Gastrique

Could have rested just a tad bit longer to prevent those excess juices from escaping, but still delicious =)

Duck
has gotta be on the top of my list when I think of my favorite
proteins. Something about it just makes me salivate every time. A
crisp and tasty skin just really does it for me!

I've
been trying to get rid of some items on our bar shelf so that we can
make room for newer and tastier things. There's been a bottle of ginger
liqueur sitting there for quite some time. I just haven't had the
opportunity to do anything with it... until now. A quick and easy
gastrique was just the thing to pair with our duck breasts!

In
a medium saucepan, heat the sugar on medium low heat. Cook until sugar
caramelizes and turns into a syrupy liquid... like you're going to make
caramel. When the sugar is dissolved and has a nice amber color,
deglaze the pan with the vinegar and ginger liqueur. Whisk constantly
to remove any clumps. Reduce by about 3/4 and then add veal stock, star
anise, cinnamon, juniper berries, and salt. Continue to reduce until
mixture is at a syrupy, sauce consistency. Keep warm until needed.

Heat
a large saute pan under medium heat. Season the duck breasts with salt
and pepper on both sides. Add the duck breasts to the dry pan,
skin-side down. Slowly render the fat from the skin until it is nice
and crispy, about 7-9 minutes. You don't want to rush this if you want
to get the perfect duck skin!

Flip breast over and
continue to cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until duck is at a nice
medium rare-medium. Let rest for about 4-5 minutes before slicing.

Reheat
sauce and mount with 1 tablespoon of butter. Spread a nice bit of
sauce on the plate. Top with desired vegetable or starch (I had roasted
from carrots and turnips for this). Slice duck breasts into thin
strips and arrange over top of the vegetables. Garnish with parsley, if
desired.

Another simple, but elegant meal. Take the time to splurge on some duck breasts once in a while - you won't be sorry!

I love duck. I have only made entire duck before but never just the crispy breasts. But I love eating them and have done so many times... :-) I agree the crispy skin is absolutely incredible and the meat is so tasty as well. I'll give your recipe a try. It looks so delicious!

Look at you! I'm not a huge fan of duck but perhaps I could be convinced otherwise.

My husband and I were trying to recall the 2 restaurants you told me to try at the blogger dinner. It seems like one you said had chicken and waffles (maybe even both of them?) and the other was in Germantown, maybe? You said it was small and people waited in their cars for tables. Ringing any bells?

Of course! Hammerheads in Germantown is the place that is small - they do a sweet potato waffle with fried chicken wings - but their whole menu is pretty solid. By far though, our favorite place for chicken and waffles is the Silver Dollar on Frankfort Ave - to. die. for. =)

Thanks! We were actually trying to think of a place for Valentine's. I'm not sure either of those would necessary fit the bill? What do you think? We've been to several of the "nicer" places though. Any of the new places downtown? We've only been to Harvest.

I think they both would be great for Valentine's Day - just know that Hammerheads doesn't take reservations, but I'm pretty sure the Silver Dollar does! We're actually finally going to check out Seviche for Valentine's Day so we're pretty excited about that

Hi there. The current Food on Friday on Carole's Chatter is collecting links to dishes using duck or other game birds. I do hope you link this in. This is the link . It would be great if you checked out some of the other links – there are some good ones already. Cheers